Adult Christmas

32 pages

4 m, 4 w, 4 flexible, extras

Mark Nelson, an “Everyman” husband and father, has scheduled his family to participate in a live nativity, just to have them together for one night without distractions to focus on Christ and remind everyone else to focus on Him, too. But it’s tough! His wife Susan is desperate to finish shopping, daughter Jen can’t be disconnected from her friends, and Grandpa wants to voice his strong opinions! When son Kenny, er, make that Kenneth now, arrives straight from college with a whole lot of religious doubt he never had before, the family is shocked. Unfortunatel...

40 pages

18 flexible characters

The Breckenheimers are a loving Christian family celebrating Christmas with a unique hillbilly flair all their own. As our story begins, we flashback to the day Poppa delivered some very exciting news to Mama, his parents and his children Bucky, Queazy, Myra Jean and Lindy. He has just been promoted to the Assistant to the Junior Assistant Manager at the pickled egg plant owned by Garver Goobler. Poppa will even get to help Goobler with a "special" project Christmas morning. But the family's happiness is tempered by Mama's uneasiness with the motives of Goobl...

34 pages

5 m, 5 w, 3 flexible, 5 children.

It is Christmas Eve and Randy and Karen Rogers are preparing for their first Christmas at home with their new infant son and the arrival of both of their families. It will be baby Devon's first Christmas but it will not be the Christmas his parents had planned for him. Not only is this special day shaping up to be filled with bickering and hostility between the in-laws, but it will also hold an unexpected trip to the hospital. But who said Christ can't bring Christmas to an emergency room? Offset with the humor of the Fink brothers, a couple of goofy neighbor...

24 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 boy, 2 girls.

Overworked and over-committed, Jim and Mary McIntyre are frazzled! Their three kids are acting up and they've got a thousand and one things to do at the church for Christmas. Instead of feeling the joy of the season, they're feeling resentment. Enter Mason Angel, a stranger whose car broke down at just the right time and just the right place. Taken in by the kind family, Mason shows them the perfect peace they all seek. He reminds them that serving the church is not the same as serving Christ, the Savior, who died for us. By following their individual calling...

36 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 flex, extras

Since they were knee high, Dill Mickle and Phil Slaw, now brothers-in-law, have dreamed of being the grand marshals of Crabshore, Maryland’s Christmas Crabtacular. The honor of grand marshal only goes to the fisherman who catches the biggest crab. Gladys Leech has won for the past twenty years! But Phil is trying something different this year, a new tactic. He is going to use faith as bait. (Just like the catch Jesus netted on the Sea of Galilee!) Dill has doubts, but Phil ends up catching a crab of ridiculous measure. They end up beating all the odds to beco...

35 pages

Large, flexible cast.

From the original story by Leo Tolstoy. Christmas Eve has come, but the old Russian shoemaker, Papa Panovich, is sad and alone. When he begins to read the story of the very first Christmas, the treasured words take on new life as he imagines and interacts with the words of Scripture. Then Papa Panovich believes he hears Jesus speaking to him, telling him that He will visit him tomorrow. All the next day while looking longingly for Jesus, Papa Panovich stops to help so many - providing a warm drink for Ivan, the old street sweeper; encouraging a struggling wid...

35 pages

2 m, 2 w, 1 flexible, 1 child, extra voices

Rev. Cordell opens the play as he recalls a Christmas some 20 years earlier when he was trapped with a handful of other strangers by a blizzard in a small Oklahoma diner. He wasn't a pastor then, but a young man full of questions. Seamlessly, we join the group: the owner of the diner who is set in her ways, a middle-aged man with a secret past, an edgy newspaper reporter from out of town, and a young mother completely on her own with a small child who does not speak. No one in the lonesome diner is quite sure of the real meaning of life or where theirs should...

26 pages

1 m, 3 w, 1 flexible, 1 boy, extras

Goldie, Frank, and Myrna, three counselors at an emotional helpline, have devised a way to have Christmas Eve off this year. They have engaged Thomas Wellmore, a charming but self-centered Wall Street type, to man the phones. He willingly embraces the opportunity to “balance his karma” and “do something real at Christmas for those less fortunate.” As the evening wears on and no one calls, he becomes increasingly irritated and his true character is revealed. Then, at the stroke of midnight, a cleaning woman enters with her young son, Christopher. Though the ey...

26 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 child.

Merry Lane is a nursing facility the Brittenham brothers call home. Rufus, the oldest brother, is a grouch who dislikes Christmas time. Edgar, the middle brother, is a kindhearted, soft-spoken man, the peacemaker, and Percy, the youngest brother, is scatterbrained, but has a heart of gold. Despite Rufus' many objections, Percy shares story after story about their childhood. And if that isn't enough to drive Rufus crazy, the members of the Ladies Auxiliary stop in to sing Christmas carols and the young kids visit and "adopt" a grandparent. One little girl touc...

34 pages

5 m, 4 w

In 1933 the Depression had taken the merriment from the holidays. After a private party cancels, diner owner Mabel decides to stay open on Christmas Eve. That’s a good thing for a gangster, two thespians, and an out-of-town couple who wind up in a small diner just to get out of the cold and warm up with a hot cup of coffee. But when an inept robber takes them hostage these strangers find a Christmas miracle. This heartwarming holiday comedy tells an offbeat story of down-and-out strangers discovering the joy of Christmas at gunpoint. About 45 minutes.

51 pages

Adults (4 m, 5 f); Teens (3 m, 4 f); Children (1 boy); flexible (4)

Christmas at Happy Valley isn't going to be so happy for Leo or his forgetful buddy Al. There're the only two residents of the retirement home not leaving to spend the holiday with family or friends. Leo especially is undone over the plans put in motion by his estranged daughter-in-law, Chelsea. In anticipation of his early demise, she has consigned him to the home and taken over his finances. Meanwhile, the activities director cons a church group into performing a Christmas program for the two old gentlemen, but at such late notice, only a handful of teens s...

28 pages

3 m, 5 w, 2 girls, 3 flex.

The Biblical story of the prodigal son is the basis for this modern-day play. Steve, a high school senior, hates living at home and wants to quit school to escape. His dad, also fed up, gives him the money he has saved for him for college. Out on the street, Steve finds he has friends - as long as he has money. At his lowest point he meets Gabby who shows him the importance of God and family. At her urging, Steve writes his parents saying if the one flickering light in their Christmas decorations is visible, he'll know he is welcome back home. A very heartwar...

36 pages

6 m, 6 w.

Here is a modern story of a "prodigal son" and a "prodigal father" as well. Matt McCord left home at an early age because his wealthy father, Sam, who claimed to be a Christian, was so strict. Now, years later, Matt has come home this Christmas Eve, saved and repentant of his earlier, wasted lifestyle and anxious to make peace with his family. Everyone welcomes him with open arms, but father Sam refuses - at first. But, as the family points out, Sam has been a "prodigal father" wasting the love of God and his family in favor of business concerns. Together the...

16 pages

8 m, 4 w, 4 flex, extras.

The Shoemaker and his wife want so much to have Christ visit their home during the Christmas season. They feel certain they'll know Him when He comes, but their only visitors are a poor woman and her baby, a rich old spinster, a beggar, and a young boy in trouble, all of whom they invite willingly into their home. Later in a dream, the Shoemaker sees those he helped that day worshipping at the manger where the Christ Child lay. He realizes that, through them, Christ had visited. Performance time: 30 minutes.

27 pages

7 m, 2 w, 1 boy, 1 girl.

Here's the story of a mysterious stanger who, one night, changes forever the lives of a small group of stranded travelers. Each traveler has his own fear or weakness. The cripple depends on his crutches to gain sympathy; the woman feels she must wear valuable jewerly to be worthy; the preacher has lost sight of God and can only see as far as his flask; the young husband and wife are running away, afraid to go home again. Charley, the bus station agent, uses tall tales to hide his true soul. Afraid at first of being robbed by this mysterious, bleeding man whos...